Head of Apple's iAds to depart for venture capital firm

The head of Apple's iAd interactive advertising business is set to leave the company, and staff was informed of the executive's impending departure on Wednesday.

Andy Miller, who is the vice president of mobile advertising at Apple, will soon leave the iPhone maker, according to sources who spoke with Kara Swisher of All Things D. Miller co-founded Quattro Wireless in 2006, and sold the advertising company to Apple in 2010 for $275 million.

In his time at Apple, Miller reported directly to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Apple will reportedly seek a replacement for the executive.

Miller will reportedly become a general partner at Highland Capital in Boston. That's the same venture firm that helped to fund Quattro when he started the mobile advertising company.

"At Highland, Miller will be working on a range of digital investments from its Silicon Valley office, sources said, and not just in the mobile space," Swisher wrote.

Earlier this year, some reports claimed that Apple's iAd business was "hurting" as fill rates with advertisers allegedly dropped. Developers and advertising executives painted a grim picture of the iAd business, suggesting that sales people were struggling to fill advertising slots and renew contracts.

Andy Miller, via All Things D.

And in July, it was said Apple was being forced to dramatically lower its pricing for iAd campaigns by as much as 70 percent. New iAd packages are said to be available for as little as $300,000, far less than the original $1 million buy-in Apple required at launch.

While there have also been claims that Apple's control over editorial content drove away some advertisers, there have also been success stories with iAd. For example, an advertising effectiveness study commissioned by Apple and Campbell's Soups found that iAd viewers were twice as likely to recall seeing an iPhone advertisement versus a TV commercial. Other partners, like Nissan, have also praised the iAd platform.

Apple began iAd to allow iOS developers a new way to monetize their applications, using interactive ads that were presented within the app via an integrated HTML5 environment, rather than pushing users out of the current app and redirecting them to an external web browser.

The head of Apple's iAd interactive advertising business is set to leave the company, and staff was informed of the executive's impending departure on Wednesday.

Andy Miller, who is the vice president of mobile advertising at Apple, will soon leave the iPhone maker, according to sources who spoke with Kara Swisher of All Things D. Miller co-founded Quattro Wireless in 2006, and sold the advertising company to Apple in 2010 for $275 million.

In his time at Apple, Miller reported directly to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Apple will reportedly seek a replacement for the executive.

Miller will reportedly become a general partner at Highland Capital in Boston. That's the same venture firm that helped to fund Quattro when he started the mobile advertising company.

"At Highland, Miller will be working on a range of digital investments from its Silicon Valley office, sources said, and not just in the mobile space," Swisher wrote.

Earlier this year, some reports claimed that Apple's iAd business was "hurting" as fill rates with advertisers allegedly dropped. Developers and advertising executives painted a grim picture of the iAd business, suggesting that sales people were struggling to fill advertising slots and renew contracts.

Andy Miller, via All Things D.

And in July, it was said Apple was being forced to dramatically lower its pricing for iAd campaigns by as much as 70 percent. New iAd packages are said to be available for as little as $300,000, far less than the original $1 million buy-in Apple required at launch.

While there have also been claims that Apple's control over editorial content drove away some advertisers, there have also been success stories with iAd. For example, an advertising effectiveness study commissioned by Apple and Campbell's Soups found that iAd viewers were twice as likely to recall seeing an iPhone advertisement versus a TV commercial. Other partners, like Nissan, have also praised the iAd platform.

Apple began iAd to allow iOS developers a new way to monetize their applications, using interactive ads that were presented within the app via an integrated HTML5 environment, rather than pushing users out of the current app and redirecting them to an external web browser.

The elephant in the room may be incompatibility between the mobile computing experience and advertising.

If that turns out to be the case, it spells very bad news for Android...

Huh? Google's ads are in every free app, while iAds loads test advertisements with no content. The problem is not that you can't be sucessful in mobile advertising, its that apple wanted more then a couple of words and a link. Apple wanted an integrated app-like ad that would keep people around longer, have a higher chance of being clicked, and consequently was more expensive and more difficult to create.

There simply weren't enough companies who could dedicate the time and money for iAd, and google came up with a similar app-like ads very soon after iAd started (they pull up within the same app you are using, without taking you to safari). That is the reason for iAd failure.

If apple wants iAd to succeed they need to lower standards to allow text / link type ads, but that would be unapple - like. Therefore i predict google will continue to dominate ad space on Android and iOS.

This is looking like Apple's biggest market failure in the last decade.

It sounds like you are asking for Click to Flash in Mobile Safari so you can block Flash ads, but since Flash isn't supported so it's an odd request.

Sorry to get overly technical about it but, this is what I do when I program ads. I check to see if the browser supports HTML5, then as a secondary fall back I check to see if they have Flash and also do not have a Flash blocker plugin/extension installed, and, as a final fall back condition, I deliver an animated gif file. Fortunately most advertisers don't go to that much trouble so between Ghostery and Click to Flash/Flashblock, I can surf relatively ad free on my Mac. Wouldn't it be nice to have the same experience on an iPad?

Huh? Google's ads are in every free app, while iAds loads test advertisements with no content. The problem is not that you can't be sucessful in mobile advertising, its that apple wanted more then a couple of words and a link. Apple wanted an integrated app-like ad that would keep people around longer, have a higher chance of being clicked, and consequently was more expensive and more difficult to create.

There simply weren't enough companies who could dedicate the time and money for iAd, and google came up with a similar app-like ads very soon after iAd started (they pull up within the same app you are using, without taking you to safari). That is the reason for iAd failure.

If apple wants iAd to succeed they need to lower standards to allow text / link type ads, but that would be unapple - like. Therefore i predict google will continue to dominate ad space on Android and iOS.

Maybe.

Care to shed any data or links on whether Google had even mildly measurable revenue from mobile ads, given Android's market share dominance?

After all, if you can't (which is probably because they don't register materially), it is unlikely that anyone else (incl. Apple) does, thereby proving my point.

Tim Cook is gay, believes in climate change, and cares deeply about racial equality. Deal with it (and please spare us if you can't).

Care to shed any data or links on whether Google had even mildly measurable revenue from mobile ads, given Android's market share dominance?

After all, if you can't (which is probably because they don't register materially), it is unlikely that anyone else (incl. Apple) does, thereby proving my point.

It was a billion in 2010. One of the first links I found. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...e_revenue.html Obviously I have no insider google profit breakdown, but I can tell you that I see (and click by accident) on way more google ads than iAds. In fact, as I said, the only iAds I've seen for a long time were black test ads, that look like this:

Care to shed any data or links on whether Google had even mildly measurable revenue from mobile ads, given Android's market share dominance?

After all, if you can't (which is probably because they don't register materially), it is unlikely that anyone else (incl. Apple) does, thereby proving my point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheff

It was a billion in 2010. One of the first links I found. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...e_revenue.html Obviously I have no insider google profit breakdown, but I can tell you that I see (and click by accident) on way more google ads than iAds. In fact, as I said, the only iAds I've seen for a long time were black test ads, that look like this:

I read recently* in one of the Moogle threads that Google claims they make $6 ad revenue (AIR, per year) for each Android device. The writer said that it would take Google quite a long time to recoup the $12 Billion MMI purchase -- even if they raised the ad income per device to $10 and spent no further $ on Android.

* I'll post a link later if I can find it.

"Swift generally gets you to the right way much quicker." - auxio -

"The perfect [birth]day -- A little playtime, a good poop, and a long nap." - Tomato Greeting Cards -

I read recently* in one of the Moogle threads that Google claims they make $6 ad revenue (AIR, per year) for each Android device. The writer said that it would take Google quite a long time to recoup the $12 Billion MMI purchase -- even if they raised the ad income per device to $10 and spent no further $ on Android.

Imagine you are at a party with a bunch of strangers and the inevitable
"what do you do? " questions comes up. I have a hunch that telling someone
you work on advertising isn't going to elicit many "that's great!" responses.

I'd say good for this guy if he's trying to branch out to something that's a bit more
effective than creating obnoxious content that no one wants to view.

He's a mod so he has a few extra vBulletin privileges. That doesn't mean he should stop posting or should start acting like Digital Jesus.- SolipsismX

This is looking like Apple's biggest market failure in the last decade.

Agreed, with iPad subscriptions right on it's heels - as they somewhat go hand in hand.

Apple's strategy is to cater to big business for big money, squeezing out the little guy.
Like a magazine that only sells full page ads - then wrestle for control over what the ad says after charging an absurd premium.

Ads on mobile devices don't work the same way as ads on TV. Yet that's the model iAd is trying to be - with even more restrictions.

I was ridiculed by the usual trolls on this site last year for pointing this out.

While the concept of iAd is good in regards to keeping the quality in advertising/interaction - Apple has overreached it's position in the market during unstable economic times.
Also, censorship is not easy to control, nor is it attractive in an open market.

I am hoping to hear something about iAd during the September / October iPhone event.

No news is better then bad news - according to Apple.
Until they revamp and overhaul iAd, they won't draw any attention to it.

--
Marketing and Advertising agencies were excited when Apple released the iPad. We looked forward to developing content for a new & exciting platform with boundless capabilities. Like the renascence seen in desktop publishing back in the 80's. There was a lot of hype.

Then we found out that Apple had different intentions. To lock up the platform, build walls, censorship, price gouging, and reign complete control over every aspect of the platform. ie. they entered the 'content' market.

To counter - people started programming 'apps' that mostly act as a portal to the open web.
Apple responded by re-writing the developer agreement and pushing these apps out of the app store. Also attacking subscriptions - and even demanding control over subscription lists.

The boggling part of all this is that Apple in their arrogance - forgot that content creators and marketing/advertising companies are ripe with creative people who will and are finding different solutions. 85% of the economy is business in the small/mid size. (the market Apple is ignoring - yet sells it's technology to and is the target market for large business).

People want the tech and security - but they don't want to be censored and restricted.
Their current model is an uphill battle.